MY PROCESS of making paintings begins with long, quiet periods of slow walking in the landscape. I am interested in creating an arena where the landscape can flow through unimpeded by rational thought or preconceptions and I can respond to it viscerally. My goal is to lessen the distance between myself and the natural environment and to deepen the experience of being “in” and “of ” nature as opposed to merely being a dispassionate observer and a recorder of views. It is important to experience nature and the landscape not as a collection of objects, but as an interconnected series of processes and relationships.
I am an “environmental painter”, not just a painter of visual experiences. I seek the wilder places where nature resonates and is available to my total perception including all of my senses. Of course, our sensory world can be ambiguous and things are not always as they first appear to our sight. The environment that we perceive is fluid and constantly changing. I want my paintings to express the energy of those transformations.
I believe that our senses are what is most wild in us and by becoming aware of their responses I might be able to express what it is like to be fully in and a part of the natural environment.
The paintings in this new collection are a product of those quiet days spent in unquiet landscapes.
